


Hearts Don't Break Around Here

by msrchick80



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 10:43:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17021175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msrchick80/pseuds/msrchick80
Summary: Sometime in the near future, our dynamic duo have dinner together while planning a new project. Scott has just returned home from an extended stay in America. Tessa cooks them dinner (I know, but suspend your disbelief for me ok?) while they plan their next off ice business venture.





	Hearts Don't Break Around Here

**Author's Note:**

> So my VM playlist over these past few months have consisted of every Ed Sheeran song on Multiply and Divide (sorry for those that are not fans, but his stuff is honestly pretty raw and real). It’s the “Perfect” version of LTR on youtube’s fault for that. One of my favorites is Hearts Don’t Break Around here from Divide. The lyrics are below, and I can’t help but think of them as end game because of this song. I would recommend listening to it before or while you’re reading this story. This is my attempt at realistic hope .
> 
> Other notes: I wrote this the day after the Hello Fresh video came out, so you will also notice a few nods to that (yes, I know many of you cringed and it probably was pretty scripted but I am a dumb b***h for domestic kitchen VM bulls**t). It would just not leave me alone so I had to get it out of my head. Hope you enjoy, it’s my first (and possibly only) that I’ve written. I would write some disclaimer about RPF, but you know what? It’s all their fault anyway, they know what they are doing with their “characters.” Take this as another compliment you two! Thanks to Hannah on the group chat for the encouragement :)
> 
> She is the sweetest thing that I know  
> You should see the way she holds me when the lights go low  
> Shakes my soul like a pot hole, every time  
> Took my heart upon a one way trip  
> Guess she went wandering off with it  
> Unlike most women I know  
> This one will bring it back whole  
> Daisies, daisies perched upon your forehead  
> Oh my baby, lately I know
> 
> That every night I'll kiss you you'll say in my ear  
> Oh we're in love aren't we?  
> Hands in your hair, fingers and thumbs baby  
> I feel safe when you're holding me near  
> Love the way that you conquer your fear  
> You know hearts don't break around here  
> Oh yeah yeah yeah , yeah yeah yeah yeah
> 
> She is the river flow in Orwell  
> And tin wind chimes used for doorbells  
> Fields and trees and her smell, fill my lungs  
> Spent my summer time beside her  
> And the rest of the year the same  
> She is the flint that sparks the lighter  
> And the fuel that will hold the flame  
> Oh roses, roses laid upon your bed spread  
> Oh my, hold this, oh this, I know
> 
> That every night I'll kiss you you'll say in my ear  
> Oh we're in love aren't we?  
> Hands in your hair, fingers and thumbs baby  
> I feel safe when you're holding me near  
> Love the way that you conquer your fear  
> You know hearts don't break around here  
> Oh yeah yeah yeah
> 
> Well I found love in the inside  
> The arms of a woman I know  
> She is the lighthouse in the night that will safely guide me home  
> And I'm not scared of passing over  
> Or the thought of growing old  
> Because from now until I go
> 
> Every night I'll kiss you you'll say in my ear  
> Oh we're in love aren't we?  
> Hands in your hair, fingers and thumbs baby  
> I feel safe when you're holding me near  
> Love the way that you conquer your fear  
> You know hearts don't break around here  
> Oh yeah yeah

Scott places his dirty dish in the sink while Tessa sits at the counter tentatively poking at the remains of her dinner, stomach in knots.

“Thanks for cooking, T. You nailed that new Hello Fresh recipe! God I’m so full.”

Softly and quietly, Tessa speaks but avoids eye contact. She can’t shake this feeling that is building inside her, so it’s better she doesn’t look at him yet.

“I’m so glad you liked it. I was so nervous I would screw it up.”

“You need to give yourself more credit as far as cooking is concerned. I’m so excited about this foundation stuff, kiddo. I think it’s gonna be so great. Makes me feel good to be so philanthropic ya know?” Scott throws the kitchen towel over his shoulder and rolls up his sleeves to start washing the dishes.

“Yeah I am too, it’s gonna be great.” More poking at the pasta that remains on her plate.

“What’s up T? You seem so quiet tonight. Is there something on your mind?”

Her chin starts to quiver as she swallows heavily to try to clear the emotions from the surface. Swallow them down, Tessa. It’s not the time. ‘You are strong, you can do this,’ her new mantra.

She takes another sip of wine from her glass and looks up at him to try to steel her resolve. She is unsuccessful. Her face starts to crumble under the weight of what she is feeling. Scott looks over from the sink when he realizes she is getting choked up about something.

“T what is it? Talk to me. You know you can.”

“Sorry, just excuse me for a few minutes I’ll be right back.” Tessa says quickly as she hurries out of the room and runs to her powder room adjacent to the kitchen to clear her mind and her heart.

“T...”

Scott stands in her kitchen speechless. He hasn’t seen Tessa like this in quite some time. Probably since she got news that she had to have the 2nd surgery. Or in Scotland after the night at the pub. What could be bothering her so much? Hopefully it’s not her health? It can’t be what deep in his heart he longs for it to be, could it?

He waits a few minutes while breathing slowly in and out to calm his racing mind and pulse, bracing himself on the kitchen counter with his upper body. He takes the kitchen towel off his shoulder and throws it on the counter, and slowly begins to walk toward the bathroom door. He hears low whimpers from inside which instantly breaks his heart.

“God, T please let me in. Whatever it is, we can talk about it. We can get through this together. Open the door, Tess, please. You’re scaring me.”

Silence remains, so Scott turns the knob of the door, and surprisingly, it opens.

Tessa is sat in the corner on the floor with her knees curled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Her eyes fly open and she jumps up toward the sink where she starts running cold water and splashing it on her face.

Words come pouring out of her faster than the water from the faucet as she douses her face repeatedly.

“I’m so sorry I don’t know what came over me. I’ve just been so emotional this week, and I haven’t seen you in so long since you’ve been away in Florida. I’m sorry, Scott. Must be hormones or something I’ll be fine, I promise. God, I am so embarrassed.”

She feels him walk up behind her. His voice is low and gravelly when he speaks next.

“Tessa look at me.”

She slowly lifts her head from its flexed position in the sink and looks into his eyes staring at her in the mirror. They communicate with each other by their eyes, as they often do. The tension in the room multiplies. He feels her emotions through her eyes and knows. This is about them.

He runs his hands slowly over his face, not believing they are here. He thought they had put this behind them after touring in Japan. They both handled it so maturely at the time, it was almost too easy. He sees that now.

“Fuck. I thought we had this conversation and we had moved on. I thought I could put what we talked about last summer behind us and we could go forward and pursue what we wanted professionally together and personally apart. But I don’t know, T. Seeing you like this just breaks something inside of me.”

Tessa interrupts him hastily, trying to save the conversation from going any deeper than this. Saving herself from being the reason another one of his relationships has failed.

“Scott, honestly, I think I am just having a confusing and emotional week, maybe I need to get back to my therapist and talk through some things, but please, don’t make this about us. I am so happy that you are so happy, and nothing should jeopardize that, especially not my stupid emotions. I’m gonna be fine, I swear. This is what I wanted. What we decided was best for us.”

Slowly, Scott steps closer to Tessa and turns off the water from behind her. He grabs the hand towel from the rack, gently turns her hips so that she is finally facing him and wipes her face dry. He puts his hands on her cheeks, thumbing away the tears that have started to accumulate once more. He tilts her chin up so that she is looking at him again.

“Tessa if you are having any kind of doubts about what we talked about this past summer I need you to tell me now before this relationship I am in progresses any further. You know how I feel, and will always feel, but have been asked to table because you were not ready and did not want to risk our friendship, our partnership.”

Scott takes a deep breath, but continues quickly so that she can’t interject or stop him.

“And I get it, T, I do. You are so much more valuable to me as a friend. But, God, if I don’t still want you as fiercely as I did last year. All it takes is for you to look at me like that and it all those feelings come rushing back. This could be it for us as far as being together, really together, is concerned. This is the tipping point, I think. I need you to know that. This thing with Jackie is getting serious, and I can’t possibly string her along if I know this is between us.  
Because it’s you, Tessa. It’s always been you. But I can’t wait for you forever. I just can’t put my life on hold if you’re not sure about how you feel about me.”

More tears pour out from her eyes.

Tessa, frustrated with her lack of emotional control, quickly wipes her face. “God what is wrong with me? Scott you know I love you. I always will in our own, special way. But you deserve to be happy and I just don’t know if I can be that happiness for you. And I will never forgive myself if I lose you because of that...”

Scott interrupts her, soft, even though his words could be interpreted as harsh. Foreheads pressing together like they have a million times before.

“Tessa just shut up for a minute. I want to try something.”

Slowly Scott turns his head and moves closer to her lips, bodies now flush against each other. Tessa is frozen in place against the sink. Can’t move or speak. Can barely breathe.

It hits her. Oh god, he’s gonna kiss me. And I am not gonna stop him.

Scott’s mouth tentatively brushes hers. Slowly and softly his lips go to work. She finds herself becoming pliant in his arms. There is no turning back now. I want this, she realizes. An epiphany. So easy, but so hard-fought.

She lets out a low moan from the back of her throat and that’s all it takes for Scott to lose any self-control he thought he had. His tongue plunges into her eager mouth, giving her every ounce of passion he has inside of him. She gives it back two-fold. Hands threading in hair. Bodies connecting deliciously in all the right places.

Reality sets in as quickly as it escaped her.

“Wait, Scott, stop, we can’t do this.” She pulls away abruptly. “You are with someone. I don’t ever want to be the reason...”

He anticipates this from her, always thinking of others instead of her own happiness. Not wanting to cause anyone pain. He responds quickly and confidently.

“Tessa look at me. You are never the reason my relationships don’t work. It’s me. It’s because I am hopelessly in love with you and will always be. There is nothing you can do or say to change that. I am just stupid enough to think that maybe I could find happiness when I know you are it for me. Please, Tess. Say you want to try. I am begging you to just try. I know we will crush this, T, just like everything else we have done together. If you can’t try now, I think this will have to be the last time we have this conversation. My heart just can’t take it anymore.”

Tessa looks at him finally, with open eyes and an open heart. And slowly wipes away the tears which are now running down his cheeks, too.

Softly, “I just want you to be happy always. I don’t ever want to be a cause of pain in your life. I love you so much. In so many ways. I want to try, so badly. But I am so scared. I don’t ever want to lose you. What we have is once-in-a-lifetime precious.”

“You could never lose me, T. Not if we do this and you break my heart. Not if we don’t and I marry someone else and have a family and grow old with her. Never. You are a part of me and I will always love you. Please believe me.”

They stare at each other for what seems like minutes but is probably only 10 seconds. Time expands. Scott thinks she is going to shut him down for the final time.

A large grin slowly spreads across Tessa’s face, tear stained and red from all of the emotions that have been building inside of her the past few days. She has never looked more beautiful, more natural, more Tessa. Her response is so faint he barely hears her. But he doesn’t have to, her eyes tell him the answer.

“Okay, I’m ready now.”


End file.
